Ensorcelé pour les Siecles des Siecles
by PassionandPromise
Summary: "He was of Light. He'd always known that." He is the only being in the world who can do what he can do. He's always given everything he had to anyone he met. Now, he is dying. But before he leaves, he wants more than anything in all the world to create something with the boys he's come to call family, and the girl who has readily inspired his heart... Will they find out what he is?
1. Chapter 1

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." **~Desmond Tutu**

* * *

**A/N:: **The title of this story, Ensorcelé pour les Siecles des Siecles, means "Bewitched for all eternity"... I think... If anyone happens to know it isn't, please PM me! (So I can go blame my French Teacher.. ^^) I tried finding the backward dash over the first "e" in Siecles... but, I cant seem to find it at all... ^^'

Hope you enjoy the story!

* * *

He was of Light. He'd always known that.

When he was a child, and his mother slept fitfully in her bed, he created balls of light to guide her back from her darkest nightmares to her most peaceful dreams. And from there, he played the piano, allowing it to illuminate her happiest memories in golden hues and silver bells.

He was happiest when others were. He grew sad when others frowned.

He gave life to the flowers in the dead of night, and heated the chill that grew in the deepest of winters. He saved the children who were hungry in the orphanage just twenty minutes away from home. He flung his hands out, and life flew from them, eager to please, just like he was.

He came to realize he was the only one who could do what he could do: none of the servants understood what he meant about the stars at night transforming into glittering beacons for the lost and the damned, none of the gardeners knew what a glowing flower looked like under the powerful blaze of the earth sun.

No one even understood the simple concept of a smile bringing more than happiness into the world: it actually strengthened his powers, made him feel invincible.

His mother was sick, and everyone said she was dying.

She would lie in bed everyday, wasting away before his eyes. It was enough to break him, and from far away, he heard something snap in two. Maybe it was his heart, in watching someone he loved silently lose themselves with each passing day.

She told him her happiness came from seeing him happy. Her hair glowed like starlight, just the same as his did. Her woolen cloak shouldered her elbows, pink and impossibly bright. She smiled, and he felt a tugging sensation in his chest.

His grandmother pulled him out of his glowing white world, and she forbade him from ever using his powers ever again, to heal, to help, or to save. He was banished into Darkness, and it's creator smiled whenever the Light flickered inside of him, ready to dwindle away. His heart beat slower, and he was cast into a glass cage, unable to leave, unable to fight, and scared half to death.

He was only twelve.

He didn't understand the world, much less one that expected him to thrive in Darkness and suffering.

He grew up alone for five years, and the Light inside him died altogether. It had seeped through his fingertips onto the cold hard ground in thinly woven tapestries of white blood. Lights were never meant to bleed: his blood was too precious, and the sight of it as it pooled around his body horrified him beyond imagining. Violence scared the child of Light.

He forgot the sunlight as it shone upon the glittering butterflies. He forgot what the stars said when no-one was listening. He forgot how to help others who needed him, more than anyone else in the world.

No-one cared that in those five years, the lonely Light Guardian had become a lonely boy.

Ouran Academy.

The dome of a place his grandmother stuck him in.

He knew nobody. He didn't want to know anyone. They were Japanese, English, Irish, African, American... and they all spoke in different tongues to his native French. He couldn't understand what they said, even though his grandmother told him he would be coming here.

She never bothered to help him, never bothered to allow him to understand, and build the bridge between them, and him. She really didn't care, and he really didn't understand.

If his father was the Chairperson of this esteemed place, why did no-one care? Why didn't he ever come to visit him, or his mother? Did they not love each other?

He sat up further in his seat when the teacher mentioned something in French. They were studying French. A small sigh escaped his lips.

He finally, if briefly, felt he was home for a change. The light of the sun through the floor-to-ceiling window blinded his eyes, and for one second, the teacher looked exactly like his mother. For once, he understood everything the teacher said.

Everything.

It was a reminder, to remember. To recall everything he was supposed to do, to help everyone in the world. It was a calling, an alarm bell that sounded the long, endless corridors of this entire world.

He was needed.

His Light flickered back to life.

From then on, he understood everything the people in this classroom said, be it in Japanese, or in French, or in Chinese, Latin or Irish.

Because his language was universal. All it took was a look, and he knew what any one person was really trying to say.

Help me.

He was more than willing to give everything he had.

And he started with Kyoya Ootori.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N::**_Okay, so firstly, this chapter was arranged to music! You can use it if you want, I found it helpful to set the mood for the different people and characters in this chapter... So...

For Kyoya's piece, I used_ Sakura Kiss for Piano,_ from Ouran.

For the Twins, I used_ Frozen Moment_, by Chris Bacon, from _Source Code_, the movie.

For Mori, I used_ Arrival of the Birds_, from the Cinematic Orchestra and the _Dead Island Trailer Theme_.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

When Light met Dark, Dark **almost** faded away.

Kyoya Ootori was, without a shadow of a doubt, a Dark remnant of his father. He had ulterior motives for becoming his friend. He knew that, but even so, one the first day they met, he took his hand in his own, and allowed a sliver of Light to flow through him, and into the boy he was going to save.

Kyoya looked down to their held hands, and blinked.

Far away, a lightbulb went off, he was sure.

So he acted as dumb as a mule.

And made him go to places Kyoya probably never saw outside the Ootori estate.

As each day passed in the presence of Kyoya, he saw something like annoyance flicker in his eyes. Not once did he shed a true smile, and not once was Light's thrist for happiness sated. He didn't understand. Kyoya did, and he didn't budge from where he hung about in the shadows.

His father wanted him to remain in the dark, where he could always keep an eye on him, where he could always dangle the prized Ootori company in front of his face. His father did not want Kyoya, and so he became as dark as the blackest of nights.

It was truly hard for Light to get through to him.

"You know, I didn't get the chance to ask you your name," Kyoya remarked as they sat down together outside his home. "You keep telling me your name is *Light in French*, but somehow, I don't quite believe that, For one thing, your name doesn't come up on family records. In a sense, you were never born."

Light simply smiled. "I'll only tell you, when you tell me why you shackle yourself to your father's side and never smile."

Kyoya stared at him. He blinked. He didn't say anything for minutes. Was he that surprised the Light Guardian coul read him, like a book? He couldn't tell him how he knew, that there was so much more to him than met the eye. Maybe the lightbul that went off on the first day they met would tell him the truth. In as little words as was needed. Maybe all Kyoya needed to know was that, yes, this boy was different.

"Smile?"

"You never smile, for anyone. Not properly, anyway," Light shrugged his shoulders, sighing. "You are sad, even when you smile, so I can tell you either don't want to be my friend, or you don't want to be yourself."

"How dare you!"

Kyoya stood up, was ready to punch him in the face. His face loomed before Light's, ready to beat the living crap out of him. Light swallowed. Then smiled. He wasn't afraid, not really. Maybe this was the first time Kyoya ever showed his true colours. If the Light Guardian looked close enough, they did indeed shine, brighter than the fake child who stood before him only five minutes ago.

"How dare you walk into my home, and condemn me on my land! How dare you, you insolent idiot! I should have you arrested for even thinking you could walk onto the Ootori property and frame the Suoh name!"

There was anger there, deep rooted anger. It burned like sin. But iwas much better. Even if he was aggressive, Light knew he couldn't hurt him. He wouldn't, because he knew there was a saving grace here. He knew Light was a saving grace, he just didn't know how.

Light smiled for him. He allowed his Light to shimmer like a healing balm around them. He held his hands out as he stood up.

"My name is Tamaki. Let me show you what true happiness is."

He knew there was a piano in their supposedly perfect home. He played it for him, soft and lilting, as broken hearted as the Dark child who stood before him. He pretended he didn't see him cry. Because, in that second, he was crying too, for the family he knew he had lost, forever.

Kyoya reminded him of the way his mother looked after his grandmother told them the news. She was as frail as he was. She became as broken as he did.

_"This is me,"_ his friend, the piano whispered. _"This is me, now show me the real you."_

When he finished the piece he played, Kyoya smiled. And the Darkness inside of him wilted away, the remains of a black flower left on the floor.

But, of course, there was a sliver of it still. It remained in his black eyes, for the remainder of the years he'd known him, and it only came out when Tamaki was in danger. Only then, did it flare to life, like the black fire that it was.

"I think we should start a Host Club," Tamaki mumbled idly one day, and Kyoya looked up from the book he was studying. It was homeroom, a time when they should've been listening to their class reps, and not their own thoughts.

"And whatever gave you that idea?" his darker self asked, his eyes peeking out over his thinly rimmed glasses. There was no malice in his tone now, not when he addressed Tamaki, whatever kind of being he was. Gradually, he came to note, that whatever sat beside him in class, hung out of him whenever he wanted to try something new, or performed the piano during his classical music studies, was most definitely not just human.

This boy was something else entirely.

The Light Guardian suddenly grinned, something sparkling and full of innocent light. "I think we should make more friends. I want us both to have more fun. A Host Club would be... a really nice idea, don't you think? We could make more memories, right?"

Kyoya watched him, his glasses not giving anything away in his eyes. This guy came up with the weirdest ideas, but they made sense. He looked away from his... friend, and watched the rest of their class with expert eyes. Everyone seemed happy. He wondered what they looked like through Tamaki's eyes.

Were they all sad to him?

The two boys in the far corner of the room, sat away from everyone else. The Hitachiin twins, he guessed.

Tamaki noticed them. Ah. So that was why he wanted to...

Kyoya smiled, his second in days. Possibly his second in years.

Tamaki noticed, and chuckled too. "Yay! **Mother** said yes!"

Kyoya gritted his teeth. "Did you just call me '_mother_'?"

But, of course, not even Kyoya could understand what he really meant by that. No-one did. They never would.

Tamaki met the twins under the bow of a tree. It seemed fitting, considering they were meant to be as wooden as they looked.

They copy each other, one boy whispered to himself. They do it for fun. They are like mechanical dolls, only these ones speak together, and you can never tell the difference between the two of them.

But the Light Guardian never saw them that way.

They made it clear they despised him. They hated everyone.

"Go away," they said in unision. "Leave us alone."

But the Light Guardian didn't know how to. He felt it, a deeply rooted pain within their hearts, whenever no-one could guess their respective names. It hurt them, more than anyone could imagine. It was an agony, a searing misunderstood suffering.

And whenever Light finds suffering, as deep and true as this was, Light always finds a way to ease it, no matter how deep and true as it seemed.

He watched them as they walked away from him, always together, like something drawn at the hip since birth. How painful could it be, to always be compared to one another? To always be seen as one unit, and never two separate entities, when no-one could tell the difference between them... that must've been hard, and there was no way they should change, simply to make things easier for the world.

They were themselves, and if they had to look the same whilst they were, then only the mirror would be able to distill the difference.

"The one on the right is Hikaru," he said to the quiet air in the courtyard where they once stood. "And the one on the left is Kaoru. But it doesn't matter, anyway. You wouldn't listen to me, even if I tried."

The Light Guardian remembered the glows of soft light he used to call his mother home from the nightmares she suffered from.

And it was only then that he realised that his heart was pounding faster than it had in the five years he'd been away from her. He wanted them to be so happy. He wanted Kyoya to be so happy. He wanted everyone to be... happy.

His grandmother forbade him from using his powers. It was because she was afraid of them, she didn't know what they were. A quick look around the courtyard told him no-one was around.

Slowly, he gathered his palms together, and found the Light he'd wanted to use, a small portion of himself tied with a knot. It was his heart.

His scared heart. He had to be brave. He wanted to keep his eternal promise: he would make everyone happy, no matter the cost.

So he whispered to it. "If no-one can tell the difference between the two of you, then I'll give you the difference between me and the rest of the world. Maybe then, someday, someone soon, will be able to tell you both apart, and undo the contradiction you've both worked so hard to weave."

The Light Guardian gave the twins his heart. He cast it off to the breeze, and let it go to where it was destined to be.

Kaoru followed Hikaru into the classroom. In his hands, he carried something delicate and small. It was placed carefully in a glass box, and it baffled the lives out of the two of them. They didn't know where it came from, or who's it was. They didn't understand, and everyone else turned to look at them, as they made their hesitant way to Kyoya Ootori.

"Hey," Hikaru boldly stated. It was the first time only one of them spoke. Kaoru was taken off guard completely. Never had only one of them spoken before... it just didn't happen. Dinner lastnight involved them looking at whatever ball of light that had happened upon their bedroom window. For the first time ever, they'd had a separate conversation between themselves, a speaking of the mind, about nothing at all.

It was like something had come between them, and separated them for who they were.

It was this weird glowing orb. It frightened the hell out of him, because if they held it, somehow, Kaoru couldn't imagine whatever Hikaru was thinking, and vice versa.

It was the most freakish thing that ever happened to them.

The servants stared blandly at them as they spoke as two beings over fancy tuna, and rice. Hikaru was more terrified though. He was cut off from Kaoru, altogether. And he was so used to his brother going along with whatever he said, he was so used to being on the same wavelength as him...

"I don't think that's true," Kaoru whispered as they spoke about Tamaki Suoh lastnight. "I don't think he's that bad. He just wants us to be friends-"

Kaoru never disagreed with him. Never.

"Ah, Hikaru and Kaoru," Kyoya noted with easy glanced to both of them respectively. Kaoru held up the glowing ball of light.

"By any chance, is Tamaki Suoh here? We think this may be... his."

"We want it gone, now," Hikaru explained. Kyoya shook his head, as the whole classroom watched them. Kaoru didn't know what they were more transfixed by: the fact the Hitachiin twins were speaking to someone other than themselves, the fact there was a glowing ball of white light in Kaoru's hands, or the odd notion that they would want anything to do with Tamaki Suoh.

"I'm afraid he called and told me he was sick. He's down with some sort of fever, but he'd be in tomorrow. Oh, and he told me to tell you that the Host Club were setting up is looking for handsome boys to join," he added. "His words, not mine. He really wants you to join. He thinks you'd be perfect for the club. You're exactly what we need, Hikaru, Kaoru." Kyoya nodded to each of them respectively as he said their names.

Kaoru stopped.

Hikaru gritted his teeth in surprise.

"You guessed right," Kaoru whispered, looking down to the glass orb. It still shone, beating like a drum in his hands. "You guessed who we were."

Kyoya didn't say anything. Not for a second. Not for ten. Everyone hushed around them.

"Well, then, I guess he chose you two as well."

"What do you mean? What the fuck is going on here?" Hikaru raised his voice in time to the alarm he felt deep inside of him. "No-one's ever guessed right. Ever. So how could that idiot have anything to do with it?!"

Kyoya closed his eyes. "He chose to save us, from the hell we suffer in. I've no doubt in my mind that whatever you told in your hand, Kaoru, is the key to all of that. Keep it safe, for him. It's what will finally set you both free."

When Tamaki walked into class the next day, he was pale. But he was there. And no-one ever mixed up the two brothers ever again.

Even if they seemed identical, there were differences there that everyone saw. Flaws, everyone thought, but to the brothers, they were beautiful flaws. They were human, after all. And whatever it was that Tamaki Suoh had given them, just proved how human they really were.

They became his friend.

They joined the growing Host Club.

And they forever kept his heart safe, in an ornate glass box, for everyone in the Hitachiin household to see.

It was the third week of December when Light found someone who could spark the air with flame. A Fire Guardian.

He had dark eyes, but they danced with fire constantly. He was burned.

The little Light Guardian had seen people like him before: they burned in their own pain, for unknown reasons. There weren't many of them in the world, but they existed, often for penance they didn't know how to pay.

And, of course, when the Light Guardian saw him, he decided he was the perfect candidate for the Host Club.

It was cold outside, and the classes were let out for the day. Wrapped up in a scarf and hat, he found the boy, and waved cheerfully to him.

The boy looked to him, and stopped walking. His hands were enshrouded in his pockets.

They stared at each other, and the boy suddenly whispered, "I know who you are. You can stop pretending you're human. You don't fool my eyes."

His deep voice penetrated the cold, and Tamaki stopped smiling. He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Light Guardians are easy to make out. I **hate** things like you."

It was the most simplest of phrases, yet it was spoken with the most poisonous of voices. Tamaki watched him leave, downtrodden and broken-hearted.

His grandmother said that to him all the time.

_"Filthy child. I hate you."_

The next day, he knew the decision he had to make.

"I found our next candidate," he off-handedly said to the Hitachiin twins in the corridor of Ouran. Breaktime had come, and they had gathered by the main stairs. Tamaki was currently scouting for the boy in question. He pretended he didn't feel as hurt as he really did.

_"Filthy child. I hate things like you, you're just like that disgusting mother of yours..."_

"Next-"

"-Candidate?" the twins spoke in unison.

They were looking with him. Tamaki snapped out of his reverie, and grinned.

"Of course! I want as many as we can manage in our little family! The more the merrier, right?" he suddenly ground out with an over-the-top cheerful force. He was waving his arms enigmatically in the air, causing many girls and boys to look to them and laugh. Tamaki smiled wider, at both them, and the students who milled around them.

The Dark prince watched him as he laughed. He saw the lines of worry on his face, the slight hitch in his voice. Carefully, he wrote something down in his book, then snapped it closed.

"I've scouted a room. It's perfect for us, too. The price is cheap enough, although nothing to sneeze at, and we'll have more than enough for at least five other boys, if they'd like to join," he said easily. The Hitachiin twins looked to each other.

"So were actually doing this," Kaoru grinned.

"Yeah, whoever knew we'd be the entertaining type?" Hikaru answered, shrugging his shoulders. They both knew they were really thinking the same thing: Were scared.

"Would you like to see the room?" Kyoya asked. Tamaki stopped, and thought about it.

"Nah, you guys should go. I need to do something after school today."

Everyone looked to each other, then shrugged.

That evening, he found the same boy leaving the school. He was by himself, and the cold air pierced the Guardian's skin. The boy looked to him as he came closer.

"If you so much as think about coming any closer, I'll hurt you so bad that you'll have no choice but to keep to a wheelchair for the rest of yoru life," he warned casually. Tamaki didn't stop. Instead, he held a hand out to him.

"My name's Tamaki-"

"I know who you are, you idiot.** I just don't care.**" His dark hair bristled with dark flame. He was so much like Kyoya, it seemed ridiculous. Tamaki stopped, then laughed.

"Well, that sure puts introductions out the window. You're Takashi, right? Although, everyone calls you Mori, a funny rephrase on the word_ Mourir_, meaning, in French, to die."

Takashi bristled. He knew what it meant. He wasn't a dolt, like this guy was.

Inside, the flames that kept him shackled to his curse bled out from between the cracks in his sealed heart.

"Leave me alone. Now."

"No, I won't. From now until you decide to be my friend, I shall be a pain in your side. And then you'll have no choice but to join the Host Club I'm starting up with my friends."

"I hate Light Guardians, do you hear? _I hate them_. In fact, I'd **burn** you right now if not for the fact we're stuck in this godforsaken school," Mori challenged darkly. Tamaki stopped, before he held his hands out casually, inviting.

The Light Guardian pretended he wasn't terrified. He was exactly liek Kyoya, he was exactly like grandmother. He was like a dark shroud over his Light. He was... just as scared as he was.

It was in his eyes, like before. Help me.

"Well then, how about a match? Fire versus Light? If you win, I'll never bother you again. If I win, you join the Host Club," he chuckled. Mori gritted his teeth, and gripped the book bag he carried harder. This boy was so freaking casual and easygoing. He despised him so much, his hatred was almost palpable. How the Light Guardian never felt it, he didn't know. Or maybe he did, he just pretended he didn't.

"Fine, the field just beyond the school, right now. First one to be hit loses."

The Light Guardian smiled sadly. "Sure."

Mori knew Light Guardian's were scared of violence. Why this idiot suggested they fight was totally beyond him. He was so pumped to beat the living shit out of him, he was willing to show anyone what happened when you messed with the guy who loved to play with fire. Or when you messed with their little brother.

As they prepped themselves in the grassy field, the cold wind blew around them. Snow was about to fall. Tamaki stood on the opposite end of the field, about a hundred or so feet away from him, his scarf billowing around his motionless body as he scrutinised the man in front of him.

The tops of the school buildings jutted up toward the sky far off to their right. It was the space in between that Mori longed to fill with fire, deadly fire. For his brother. For Mitsukuni.

He gathered up the penetrating heat inside him, and hurled it out at deadly force. Fire filled the soundless air, real fire. Yes, he was a Fire Guardian, and yes, he was more than willing to burn everything in his path. Including a human being. Simply because of the fact a human being was the reason why his little brother was hurt so badly.

Tamaki didn't move at all, not until the last second, and even when he did it wasn't to dodge the attack. It was to block it. He swerved his hand upward to the sky, and a glittering orb of a shield warped through the air. It was blindingly bright, and more than enough to expell all the heat in the air into a thousand glittering fragments.

It was breathtakingly beautiful, and in that second, Mori watched the world shatter. The snowflakes started to fall from the cloudy sky, a perfect backdrop for the sparkling work of art the Light Guardian created with a mere flick of his wrist.

Mori gritted his teeth. Tamaki wasn't going to fight him. It wasn't in the Guardian's nature. But Fire wanted more than anything to sear and burn, and right now it wanted so badly to sear the flesh of the Light Guardian who tempted him to walk the line of fire in the first place.

He lashed out then, fire stream after fire stream of melting fury. It seared more than skin and would have the death defying power to kill anything in his path, anything surrounding him.

It made it's lightning way toward Tamaki. He didn't care if Tamaki wasn't prepared, all he wanted to do was burn the Light Guardian. He** wanted** him to die, painfully.

Like those bastards tried to hurt his little brother, those fucking bullies in this very school.

He hated everyone, because no-one done anything when they should've been doing something, and now Honey was stuck at home, scared to even think about taking a step into Ouran. He hated Tamaki, but it wasn't because of the fact he was a Light Guardian, it was because his father hadn't done a thing to stop those fucking bullies.

The fire raced toward Tamaki, and just as the Light Guardian moved to counter the heat, Mori jumped then, and followed those flames. He used them to jump right into Tamaki's face, grasp his throat with eager hands, and squeeze.

Tamaki didn't budge. He didn't seem all that surprised. He just smiled, gasping for air.

He closed his eyes, expecting his rush of attack. The snow continued to patter it's fall, and the flames around them faded into the past of what was.

"You look so fucking happy all the time, it annoys the shit out of me," Mori ground out, as Tamaki's legs gave way. "I hate you so much, you and all you're family. I hate everything about you, and I wish you were dead."

_"You filthy child. I hate you. I curse you until you die. I curse you after you're death. Your existence brings nothing but shame upon the Suoh name-"_

"I hate-myself-too-" Tamaki whispered, as the Light inside of him closed out. "You-win-"

He couldn't breathe anymore. He went limb straightaway, and he let go of everything. The darkness was comforting, and the little Light Guardian lay in it, warm... happy.

Mori was left holding a rag doll.

The snow fell.

It whispered to him that he'd done something fatally wrong.

He didn't see the fragments of Light as they settled over his skin like a soothing balm, a calming antidote for all his anger.

He thought it was snow.

_'I didn't really want this, did I?'_ he allowed himself to whisper in his suddenly quiet mind. _'I didn't actually want to kill someone, did I?'_

He didn't know the Light fragments that fell over their heads were filled with the Light's voice, and they howled for someone, for anyone to help him.

He really didn't want to die.

From far away, Kyoya glanced up. He thought he heard Tamaki's voice.

At the Hitachiin estate, both twins looked up at the same time. The glowing heart throbbed, flickering like a dying lightbulb. It hung itself on a golden noose, for everyone else to see.

Tamaki-

The Light Guardian could not breathe. Not properly.

There were voices over his head. He didn't know where they came from, or whose bodies they belonged to. He didn't know where he was.

He just knew he couldn't breathe properly. Breathing hurt too much. He wanted to-


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N::**_Hiya guys! Were almost at the finishing line here: I think there's only one more chapter left to go! I just wanted to let everyone here know that once again, this piece was written to music. If anyone's interested, or if you're a _Grey's Anatomy_ fan, the song is from Irish band, **Kodaline**, **_All I Want_**. Give it a go!

Thank you to everyone who's been reading this so far! Cookies and kudos to you and Happy New Year!  
xxxx

* * *

She was sick. Always sick.

She looked up to the white window on her right, saw the curtains fluttering, white and near see-through. Everything else in this room was blank, a postcard waiting to be written.

Except for the person sleeping in the bed opposite her. He had beautiful blond hair. He wasn't Japanese, though.

"Sweetheart! Good morning!" her mother chorused from the door far down to her left, and she looked down to see a familiar bob of healthy, chestnut brown hair, and a gleaming smile that sparked dark light-bulbs.

She grinned back.

She hated hospitals. She hated doctors, endless prescriptions, never-ending nurses and medication, countless drips and agonizingly cold stethoscopes.

Worst of all, she wanted **_home_**.

They didn't know what was wrong with her, she was forever sick, always burning with fever, constantly tired and her blood- _It wasn't normal_, they said. _Not__** normal**__ at all._

"And how are we? Oh, we have another patient in here, too. I should be more quiet. He just arrived, didn't he?" her mother gathered herself in the seat beside her bed, just as she had yesterday, the day before, and the week before that. It was a never-ending cycle of hospital rushes, and clients, and the law, for her.

But she was endlessly bright. Always smiling, just like her daughter.

Haruhi smiled at her mother. "So, how are you today, darling? Has your fever gone down yet? I hope you slept well, and that the nurses are bringing your favourite fancy tuna!"

It was a joke between them, and they always laughed about it. Her father never understood the joke. It started way back when she was in middle school. It didn't even need mentioning anymore.

"Of course they are, mum. Are you busy today? I hope you aren't working too hard."

"Nonsense, Haruhi! Your mother's always going to go out there, and do her best." To further this, her mum stuck up her thumb and grinned wildly.

"Yeah, I just wish you'd slow down the second you get to the hospital entrance doors, hunnie," her father said, gasping for air, as he reached the door to her room.

"Don't tell me you left dad in the dust again, mum," Haruhi chided. "I don't understand why you always do that."

"Oh, it's to keep him fit. Besides, women are always running around and doing whatever they can to keep their husbands happy!" Kotoko joked, and her father stopped, twitching. _Here comes the spaz attack_, Haruhi braced herself. _Yup-here it was-_

"Oh, sweetheart! You are so right-I mean, whatever was I thinking?! I should be able to run until the sun sets on Mars, I am a perfectly fit and capable woman, and after all, my body is not getting any younger-" her father started, comically dragging a hand through his perfectly shiny hair, red and glistening like the lipstick he was currently wearing. The bag matched his hair.

"Seriously, you do realize he'll just keep this up the whole day right?" she whispered to her mother, who leaned in to hear her. Kotoko stopped, then slapped her cheek, unadulterated shock on her face.

"You're right. I'm an idiot."

They started to laugh at her father, who was dramatically staging his own act of Romeo and Juliet, a one-man/woman show right in front of them. The boy in the bed opposite began to move, and Kotoko noticed first.

"I think we need to get going, sweetie," she said to Haruhi's father. "We need to let Haruhi rest. This evening, we'll pop by for an hour. We both love you so much, sweetheart." There was that endless smile again. Haruhi smiled back, waving gently to her mum as she wheeled her father out the door.

"But, Kotoko, I hardly said anything to our dear, sweet, Haruhi- HARUHI, **DADDY LOVES YOUUUUU!**" her father called. She rolled her eyes with a laugh. She was sure that his shouts woke up half the hospital, if indeed, half the neighbourhood surrounding this building.

That was when she saw a pair of violet blue eyes watching her.

And so, the Light Guardian, fell in love.

Tamaki hardly knew what to say. She was pretty: short, chestnut brown hair and deep, bark-wooden eyes. She looked grounded, completely blunt, and perfectly beautiful. She watched him, the Light Guardian, bewitched as he was by her speechless spell.

She was a beautiful butterfly to him, a symbol of light he'd long forgotten and wished to never forget.

He gripped the bedsheets he was encased under and didn't speak a word. She blinked, then smiled, slowly, softly, gracefully, for him.

"You came in lastnight," she murmured. "Are you alright? My name is Haruhi."

"You're beautiful," he whispered. Her shoulders were slender, and even though she was encased in a red shawl, she gave off the impression of being small, tiny even. He just wanted to wrap his arms around her, protect her from whatever reason she was chained in here for. It was his Guardian side that made him consider that, though. There wasn't any other reason, really. Was there?

She didn't hear him murmur his truth. She continued to smile at him. It reminded him of the stars.

And then he recalled why he was here.

_"You look so fucking happy all the time, it annoys the shit out of me. I hate you so much, you and all you're family. I hate everything about you, and I wish you were dead."_

He ducked his head sorrowfully. He was here because he couldn't help the Fire Guardian, the last one to join his new family. His mother would be heartbroken to see him here, cooped up and forgotten by his grandmother. His grandmother was probably past her senseless anger now:in fact, she'd probably already disowned him for his tardiness, for his complete lack of idiocy by her account, and for the fact he was indeed a living, breathing, being.

He wondered if she knew he was here, and just wasn't bothered to come and gloat at the pathetic fool he was.

He didn't realize the tears had started to fall from his heartbroken eyes.

It was the first time in over a half a year he'd cried, the last being when he acted out of complete selfishness and tried to take his own life.

"Wh-Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean to make you cry," Haruhi breathed, her voice faltering on the _Dolce_ string she'd encompassed. The Light Guardian felt the slight flicker of a gentle flame glow inside his chest. From faraway, he knew his heart pounded, silently, for the twins to see. He wondered if they were alright.

They'd be wondering where he was.

They'd probably already decided to leave him behind.

He closed his eyes, and swallowed.

"Nobody cares," he whispered. "And it's all my fault."

The Light Guardian finally snapped in two, in front of the most ethereal creature he'd ever seen in his entire life. He was sure she wouldn't be bothered with him either: she was just trying to stimulate a conversation she never wanted to have in the first place. She must've felt sorry for him. The Light inside him quelled slightly at the thought.

"I care," she stated calmly. Tamaki opened his eyes, and looked back to her, wondering if he'd heard something that was as illusionary as a fairytale spoken from a demon's lips. She was watching him, her eyes round with worry. "You're in pain, and you shouldn't move too much, alright? Just rest, okay? I'm sure that you'll go home soon. I bet everyone is worried about you, and wondering where you are."

She was so calm and collected, the smile she gave at the end of her uttered sentence made him smile in turn as well. It sounded like something he would say, to calm someone else down. It sounded exactly like him, in every single way.

That was when he realized it.

_She was like him._

There was another one, like him, in this huge world.

Her eyes **glowed**. That was why she looked so magical to him. There was a sheen of glitter in her hair: because her hair was so dark, you could only see it in certain light. The way the breeze gently flickered around her body made him think he saw angel's wings on her back, but in fact, it was an afterglow of a Guardian.

So this was what he looked like to others. This was a Saving Grace to the Damned and the Demons.

The Light inside him flared to life, and he finally came alive. She was just as real as he was. In fact, she was even _more alive, more there._

"My name is Tamaki," he whispered. His throat felt raw. He didn't care. He was going to get up and move. He was going to make people smile again. Because that was his goal in life. That was what he needed to do.

Until the day he died.

_"You filthy child. I hate you. I curse you until you die. I curse you after you're death. Your existence brings nothing but shame upon the Suoh name-"_

He loved his grandmother. He couldn't change the way he felt. It wasn't in his nature. He loved everyone. But, something changed. In him.

It was her. She was making him feel this way. And that was okay.

"You shouldn't talk. It's bad for your throat," she winked, making him falter out of his reverie, just as she added, "I bet you'll be out of here before you know it."

They talked anyway. He told her about his world, she of hers. There were no bitter sighs, no hate-filled remarks, just easy understanding, no need for falsely uttered lies, or the sudden, craving need, to give everything they had.

For once in the Light Guardian's life, he felt he was speaking to someone normal, someone who didn't want to take something he'd so willingly give.

It was strange, he thought. He'd woken up in this hospital, like it was meant to be. She'd found him, like it was meant to be. She'd given him back something that all but died out lastnight, like it was meant to be.

"There's something about him that makes me want to give up everything," Hikaru murmured as they sat at their tables for class. Kaoru looked to him, unsure. "And now that he isn't in school today..."

"You feel it too," Kaoru muttered. "We really are lost without the boss." He sounded heartbroken. Yesterday, they saw the heart blink in and out of life. It glowed gold, then faltered in grey. Both of the twins born in Wood thought they were about to lose something precious. It had nothing to do with them: it had everything to do with the Guardian that smiled in gold.

They knew the Light Guardian was in danger.

"Wherever he is, I hope he comes home soon," Hikaru muttered without thinking. Kaoru looked to him from the textbook he'd been reading.  
"Home," they whispered together. "Come home."

Dark looked to the sky from his bedroom window. He'd made the calls, checked and re-checked the tabs he'd placed under Tamaki Suoh's name. He'd even called the Suoh residence.

No-one knew where he was.

And it infuriated him to the core.

The shadows that pressed under his eyes weren't from lack of sleep.

He knew it was only a matter of time before the power inside him lashed out and found something to call it's prey.

_"My name is Tamaki. Let me show you what true happiness is."_

He sighed and reigned himself in. Tamaki was waiting for all of them, whatever he was made of, wherever he was. He couldn't fathom why he felt so deeply for the featherbrained idiot, but he knew, for the twins' sake at least, that wherever he was, he needed to come back.

Soon.

The Fire Guardian watched the sky. He didn't speak a word, but the Fire seared inside him.

He knew he had to visit him. He had to apologize. He just didn't know how.

The snow began to fall.

And the gentle Water Guardian beside him chuckled, gripping the bunny he'd always carried on him whenever he was afraid.

"Let's go, Mori-Sempai," he laughed cheerfully._ "Let's go."_

"When will you be leaving?" the Light Guardian asked the bewitching beauty. "I'm sure that whatever you're here for, it isn't too serious."

Tamaki watched Haruhi's eyes fall onto the bedclothes. "I don't think I can leave. Not for a while, at least."

"Why? You aren't in any pain, are you?" Tamaki's eyes wandered over her form, watched as she looked away from him altogether. He could feel his throat constrict at the thought that this darling angel was not well at all. Haruhi gripped her palms tightly.

"I'm fine, on the outside at least," was all she whispered in turn. "But on the inside, everything's all messed up."

She didn't speak again, not even when the broken-hearted Light Guardian prodded her to, until his voice had gone completely. By then, his throat felt bloody and raw, and he knew he couldn't speak anymore.

Just at the one moment he wanted nothing more than to hear her speak, to hear himself speak, just this once, his voice had to go, and hers had to too.

His soul cracked a little more.

That was when he blanked out altogether. He suffocated in loneliness. The little Light Guardian remembered falling. Then he recalled darkness.

It was becoming too late. He would never have the chance to finish what he started. The clock ticked.

He was left behind. Time waited for no-one.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:: **First off, my most deepest apologies for not having this put up, like, A HALF YEAR AGO! Life's gotten so hectic that I can't really keep up with it anymore, but you don't need to hear much about me... LET'S GET THE STORY ON THE ROAD, EH?

* * *

**Chapter Four**

The Fire Guardian felt the pull.

The Water Guardian looked to the sky.

The Dark Knight blinked.

The Wood Guardians glanced to each other. The one holding the glass cage felt his hands slip slightly.

The world felt cold. Empty. Like there was no-one there, just for that brief second.

_"I want to go home."_

* * *

The rain began to pelt against the hospital windows, and Haruhi watched them with sightless eyes.

It was too quiet in here. She wrapped her hands around her legs, and watched the rain fall. She felt a shiver.

Tamaki had disconnected the heart monitor, she knew. He'd pulled the patches off his skin when he'd come to a few minutes ago. No-one had come in. It felt like everyone had forgotten him, and no-one cared. He hadn't said a word, and she didn't try to either.

She knew he'd made up his mind.

But she didn't want **that**, did she?

_"I'm fine, on the outside at least. But on the inside, everything's all messed up."_

She was bleeding. Her heart was pounding with the pain of it. Her eyes told anyone who looked closely she wasn't happy. She didn't understand the colour red: everything was painted gold and silver.

Now, she gazed at the boy with sunlight for hair and alabaster for skin. He was sleeping fitfully, unable to rest.

And something made her shiver again. She wanted,** more than anything **in all the world, to make him feel better.

She wanted to make him** happy**, just like all those times she desparately wished to make her mother happy, to please her father, to make everyone happy and safe and well and comfortable. She felt her breath hitch, then grasped her hair in her hands.

She **wanted** peace.

She wanted endlessness. She wanted a glass capsule.

She wanted goodbye.

* * *

"It's stopped glowing," Kaoru murmured as he walked the streets in the wet and puddled rain. He'd pulled his hood up a half hour ago, but it was useless : he was soaked through and freezing cold. For some reason though, he couldn't feel it.

Hikaru stopped walking and watched the once-white gold heart in it's little glass cage tucked safely in his brother's hands. His hair slicked over his eyes. He could barely see a thing. Watching Tamaki's heart slow down made his pound faster. He closed his mouth, and looked to his brother.

If he understood what this meant, then they could already be too late.

"The boss isn't human, is he?" Hikaru whispered, as if it was beginning to dawn on him. Kyoya was right.

_"Of course! I want as many as we can manage in our little family! The more the merrier, right?"_

"Anyone that acts like _he_ does isn't human," Kyoya spoke up from behind them. His glasses were fogged up, but he didn't complain. "He isn't human, at all. But he's **ours**. And that's all that really matters. He needs us, just as much as we need him. We can't let him walk away as easily as this, no matter what he thinks."

Kaoru sighed, and squeezed the glass box that held the most beautiful heart in all the world. "I want to find him. I want our family back. I want us to be together, for as long as we live. We are a family, and he's not allowed to leave us, not without saying why."

Something clicked, loud and sure. It sounded like a lock opening. It made the three of them peer closer at the fading heartbeat. Something was glowing from the inside of it, glittering like the surface of water on a sunny day. It was warm, but not too hot. It was faint, but it was still there.

It spoke to the three of them. It was telling them where to go.

It was the Light Guardian's final wish.

They began to walk in the misty rain, drawn to where they knew they were Fated to be: by the Light Guardian's side. Forevermore.

* * *

It spoke to Takashi and Mitsukuni from where they sat in the hospital.

Takashi breathed, and Mitsukuni looked up to the Fire Guardian, frowning slightly. They both knew what it was.

"He doesn't even_ know _me," Mitsukuni whispered. He grabbed his brother's elbow. "Why would anyone want to be my friend?"

"He's leading us home," Takashi murmured back, his dark eyes trembling slightly. There was no more Fire now. It was all... ash. He wasn't angry, not anymore. He was... at peace.

He knew what this really meant. They both did.

"He's calling us back to where we belong. And we aren't the only ones."

He could feel them all. Wood, Darkness, Water, and Fire... All coming home to the Light, where they began, where they would end, if need be.

He got up, and started walking. He could feel it pulling him along- a string on the end of a lifelong journey. They were all being brought to him. Everyone was coming home.

Finally.

* * *

"It's a path," Kaoru muttered. They watched the Light as it filtered upon the cement pavement in front of them. At a bend in the road, they began to walk, and followed the Light as it led them home.

Balls of Light communed the air in front of them. The same balls of Light the little Light Guardian had used to draw his mother back to the reality she suffered in.

Maybe the Light Guardian was dreaming of them. Nobody knew.

_He_ thought he saw them walking from each direction. He only remembered smiling.

They hadn't forgotten him.

* * *

_"You cant always be alone, you know. That's not possible."_

* * *

She let herself out of the bed. He was still sleeping. His breath was becoming harder to hear. It was fading away.

_"You cant always be alone, you know. That's not possible."_

She put her shaking hands to his forehead, feeling the fever, the heat. She closed her eyes, and sat into the chair by the bedside that hadn't been sat in the whole night and day he was here. There was a spark, a connection, and then there was a silent plea, made by her voice, and whispered by his fearful mind.

_"Please, don't go. I don't want to be left alone. Not by you. Not by anyone."_

There was something different about this boy. He wasn't... normal. He was different. Just like she was.

Her fingers weaved through his hair, and she felt a pull. Magic, she always imagined it was, but in reality, it was porbably much more darker than that.

She thought it could be love.

Or maybe it was a Curse.

Light blinded her closed lids, and she felt Tamaki grab her wrist, pulling her down to the bed. She followed, unable to keep herself away from him. Her heart thudded dully in her chest, and she fell into the Light.

She fell into sleep, and her dreams were of the sad-smiling boy who said, _"Nobody cares. And it's all my fault."_

_That's not true. I care. __**I care**__. So, please, __please__, come back. For me. Please._

Tamaki awoke to find the girl asleep on his chest, her hands cold on his neck.

* * *

_"You can't always feel this estranged. There are people out there, they do care for you. You just can't see it."_

_"How can you tell for sure? I could never see it, and I usually see everything- every frown, every crease of worry, all the pain and sadness. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to find happiness there too."_

_"But what if you've only ever been brought up to see pain and sadness? Would you know what happiness felt like if it hit you in the face?"_

_Tamaki blinked, as if a light had flickered on in his mind. He watched Haruhi for a second, then grinned._

_"You know what? You're probably right."_

_She didn't see the grimace of pain on his face when she blinked. It was fever-quick._

* * *

Outside it began to snow. The rain had melted away. It was a Gift, to those who knew who it was from.

* * *

"The hospital? Why the hospital? He isn't... _hurt_, is he?" Kaoru whispered worriedly. No-one uttered a word. They stared at the bleak-white washed walls that ungracefully complimented the sudden cool weather, the white snowdrops that fell from the grey heavens. Kyoya felt something tick in his head, a clog he had long since forgotten since he had met Tamaki Suoh:

He'd completely ignored his family's business. He actually didn't **care **about it anymore.

How did Tamaki Suoh **do that?**

All his life he had wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. He'd driven himself to the point of insanity just to find a place on his father's mantel. Now, now that the Dark Knight had met and cared for the Light Guardian,** now**... _Now _he didn't want anything to do with it. His older brothers could take whatever they wished of the medical profession.

If Tamaki Suoh was _**safe**_, and their uncoordinated family was together, then he didn't really care after all.

_"My name is Tamaki. Let me show you what true happiness is."_

He'd done it, without a second whim to the careless air. He done it, without a second glance backward from the Dark Knight. He'd selfishly given Kyoya Ootori another way of life, and Kyoya was beginning to see that this way of life was much better than his own.

He wanted to have more fun. He wanted his life the way the Light Guardian had handed it to him.

"He's a bloody idiot," Kyoya whispered, staring at the hospital. Kaoru and Hikaru looked to each other, then smiled softly.

"Yeah, but he's **our** idiot," they said together.

The Light Guardian had done his job.

He'd finally molded the family they all wished they had. The Guardians of the family they'd become, the useless and Damned that they were.

They ran in through the hospital doors, and prayed it wasn't too late.

* * *

Takashi stood outside the hospital room, and watched the Light Guardian as he raised unsure hands to the girl who'd lain, crumpled, on his lap. Tamaki Suoh was staring at her, bewilderment etched on his face, blond hair falling forward as his eyes closed. The Fire Guardian was staring too, and the Water Guardian's eyes widened slightly.

"Did you see-" he whispered. The stars were still falling onto the white-tiled floor. White against gold, silver and bronze.

The Water Guardian nodded, gripping the Fire Guardian's hand with renewed fervour. The rabbit he held in his left hand seemed useless now as he'd watched someone give their life for someone else. He felt his eyes water slightly, and his chest caved.

Light Guardian's carried their Curse. His mother had been one, once upon a time. The Water Guardian remembered the story of the blonde-haired woman who fell for the Water Guardian. When he was on the brink of death, she brought him back to life. Because of her love for him.

It was a Curse, to love someone else. Light Guardian's carried it to their grave.

A girl just gave her life to save the boy with the golden heart. He gritted his teeth, and let go of Takashi's hand, feeling himself be drawn forward, into the hospital room to where she lay. He couldn't hear a word of what Tamaki-chan was saying as he shook the girl's slight form. Her pink nightgown covered her pale skin, her near-white face, and Honey raised his hands just in time to feel the rabbit he'd held ever since _**before **_fall to the floor.

Water slicked the air, and electricity lighted the room. He felt his hair tickle his face, and he wondered faintly if any human would see him from beyond the doors. He didn't care. They'd think they imagined it, of course.

Because magic didn't really exist, did it? At least, not **this **kind of magic.

And Water _could_ speak to those not too far gone.

His father had, when his mother had passed away. Mitsukuni was no more than five years old. He'd watched through the crack in the screen door.

Water _flowed_, like the spirits did. His father had shown him.

And he hadn't used this ancient power since... _**before**_.

Light always brought out what mattered _most,_ in the end. And Water always made sure to capture it, and hold dear to whatever_ it _was.

* * *

The nurse wouldn't let them through the doors of ICU. They were standing on one side, and they knew Tamaki Suoh was standing on the other.

"I'm afraid we cannot let anyone through, not unless they're family," she was saying, her eyes flashing with sadness.

Kaoru gripped the glass orb tighter, and Hikaru wanted to punch the wall. Kyoya felt something tickle the edge of his mind, and he blinked.

"Someone is using magic," he muttered, before he took his hands out of his pockets. It wasn't Tamaki, no, someone else. He couldn't tell who it was, but he would become very well acquainted with him soon enough.

Kaoru and Hikaru looked to him just as the nurse furrowed her eyebrows. She gripped her clipboard tighter. He flashed a smile, dark, tempting.

He never believed magic existed. Darkness did, as did Light. Without one, you couldn't live, without the other, you knew not how to breathe. But this... this was_** ancient**_, old and faded in sepia ink. His father once muttered something along the lines of those who could bring back the dead. Lights, he said, brought them back. He could feel it in his veins.

The Gates where the spirits walked, were being opened backways.

And Tamaki was **so close.**

He stepped closer to the nurse, and convinced her to let them through _these _Gates.

They found the Water Guardian, the Fire Guardian, standing over the two Light Guardians. The one Kyoya was concerned over, was the one who was still living, still breathing.

The other wasn't moving.

* * *

The Light Guardian's heart broke at the sight of the slight girl in his arms. He shook her, but she wouldn't wake.

He looked up and saw people standing there, five of them. He knew them: they were his friends, they were his family, and he loved them dearly-

_"You cant always be alone, you know. That's not possible."_

But she was- **she wasn't**- here. And he wanted her to **be here**.

_**He wanted her.**_

He couldn't see a thing, not properly. He couldn't breathe, not properly. He couldn't hear, not properly.

His eyes blurred into shadows and light, his fingers shook uncontrollably, and he opened his mouth, to say her name, but all that came out was a shallow croak. He winced: it still hurt. The bandages were tight, but he didn't care.

_**He wanted her.**_

_**He needed her.**_ He couldn't _live_ without her-

_"Wh-Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean to make you cry-"_

_"You shouldn't talk. It's bad for your throat-"_

_"I'm fine, on the outside at least. But on the inside, everything's all messed up."_

No. _No_. **Nothing **was messed up. She was_ fine_. She was made of _Light_. That was all. Let her come home, let her come back, please-

_**PLEASE!**_

He could feel the tears prick his skin, drop down to his hands, glide onto her nightgown. He couldn't dare look at her face as he held her, so he laid her head against his shoulder. She was still, like she was sleeping, but even he knew that was too good to be true.

She was gone. She wasn't coming back. She'd used everything up to save him: she'd brought him back.

_**And he wanted her.**_

"Haruhi," he whispered into her hair, "Haruhi."

He closed his eyes, and felt himself warm. _Her_ body was still warm. Maybe there was still a part of her, lying somewhere deep inside. He wanted to believe that. He desparately wanted to believe that. She was like him: he couldn't leave anyone behind, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Someone was trying to bring her back, but he knew it would be futile. The Water Guardian hadn't done this in years. Ancient magic required practise, and a lot more magic, than what this Water Guardian was trying to give.

He imagined balls of Light, and placed them delicately into her mind. Balls of Light to guide her home. Just like Mother.

He was of Light. He'd always known that.

He was of Light, and it glowed like a sphere in the room, pushing it's boundaries, and escaping through the cracks of his eyelids. His body glowed like a beacon, and he imagined he was calling her home, a candlelight in the dark of night placed on a windowsill as her guide. _Come home. Come home._

_I love you, Haruhi._

He heard her voice. _"Tamaki-?"_

And then everything disappeared.

And there was no more pain.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:: **Finally! An ENDING! I'm so sorry again to those of you who've waited so patiently! As I said in the previous chapter, life's gotten real hard to keep up with all the extra's. I'm glad you followed me this far and thank you for keeping up. I don't know if I'll continue writing 'fic's for _Ouran_, however I do have a _Sherlock_ 'fic planned for the near future, a continuation of an old-wing 'fic I'd written... a year back? ^^' Jeez, time flies...

Many thank yous and cookies, and I hope to see you all again soon!

xxx

* * *

**Epilogue**

_Only those with excellent social standing and those from filthy rich families are lucky enough to spend their time here at the elite private school, Ouran Academy. The Ouran Host Club is where the school's handsomest boys with too much time on their hands, entertain young ladies who also have __**way**__ too much time on their hands-_

The bells of Ouran announced break-time. It was indeed strange, he had to say.

This morning, when he woke up, there was no-one there. He was home. In his own bed. Everything was... back to the way it was. Like the _Once upon a time_ he knew everyone had been waiting for all their living years.

And the Ouran Host Club had been born. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. It was strange, but it was perfect too. No, more than perfect. Everyone was waiting for him this time. He wasn't the one being left behind.

It was as he was buttoning his shirt that he thought of her. She wasn't in hospital anymore, she was at home, with her family. Where she belonged. He wondered if she still remembered him, then hoped she didn't. He didn't want her to remember how she ended up in the room that became her cage, all those endless visits to the Doctors and nurses, all those needles and pain and loneliness.

She had been waiting for him her whole life, and even in the end, she had the chance to go away.

But he was happier for it. She was happy. She was safe, and his new family, the ones who were waiting for him in Music Room 3, were well too. Takashi had joined them, and even Honey-Sempai had come back to school. He wasn't bullied anymore. Tamaki had made sure of that. Honey-Sempai would be theirs now.

He would make it his personal mission to make sure there would be no more tears shed between any of them.

The Light inside of him was still there, as was the Darkness, the Wood, the Fire and Water between the others. And they knew what had happened: they hadn't forgotten him, at all. In fact, he peeked up to the clock by his bedside table. They would probably be waiting on him to turn up in Music Room 3 after classes.

Somehow, he'd managed to turn back time, in a sense.

He'd created a strange dreamscape, one that involved all of them.

Now, he stepped up to the door of the Music Room, and smiled widely.

He was **happy**. No, he was more than happy. Everyone was safe, and he'd made them happy too. He opened the door, and felt his heartstrings flutter. He stopped, and looked up. She...

He knew _she_ was there before he saw her.

She was watching him, glasses obscuring her vision. She suddenly grinned, surrounded by all of the boys. She was the only one sitting. He noted the boy's uniform. He also noted the rosy Light in her dark brown eyes, the face that captured him the first time he saw her, glowing with perfect beauty.

He stared at her, before he smiled.

He was of Light. He'd always known that. But it took years before he realized that he was the only one who could do what he could do, and that the others who surrounded him could do things only they could do: they were unique, as unique as he was. The idea of it made him smile wider.

_"You cant always be alone, you know. That's not possible."_

No. He wasn't alone. Not anymore.

"It seems we have an addition to our family," he said, as he walked closer to them. They all grinned in turn.

Haruhi laughed, a wind-chime giggle in a non-existent breeze.

_I love you, Haruhi._

It was a picture, something that would last forever. The portrait of a family, and of the one girl who could inspire the hardest of rocks to crack, splinter and fall, uselessly, to the ground.

He held a hand out to the Princess who sat still in the plush chair, surrounded by his new-found family.

"Welcome to Ouran Academy, Miss Haruhi Fujioka."

She held out her hand, and her eyes lit up. Light flowed between them the second her hand graced his.

No, it was more than a picture. It was a story, a poem, an enraptured painting that would never be explained, or understood.

_"Thank you."_

It would last, until the end of their days.

Everyone cackled in glee.

* * *

He was of Light. He'd always known that. He always believed he was the only one.

He never believed there would be others, similar to him in so many ways, and unlike him in so many other ways. But that didn't matter.

He was of Light. His family were of Light too.

And theirs would be a Happily Ever After.


End file.
